Slavery, the Civil Law, and the Supreme Court of Louisiana

by Schafer, Judith Kelleher

• ISBN13: 9780807121658
• ISBN10: 0807121657
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-03-01
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr

Summary

In what may be the most impressive research to date of state supreme court records, this study analyzes the evolution of Louisiana's slave laws from the territorial period to the Civil War. Schafer presents numerous concise case histories, stories that are fascinating and at times heartbreaking in the particulars they reveal about slaves' existence. Anyone interested in slavery will find Schafer's work riveting reading, for it depicts in detail, probably better than most fictional or narrative accounts, what living in bondage could mean.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi	(6)
Acknowledgments	xvii
1. "Slaves Are Regarded as Persons and Property": Sources of Slave Law in American Louisiana	1	(27)
2. "Details Are of a Most Revolting Character": Cruelty to Slaves and Legal Intervention	28	(30)
3. "No Proceedings... Shall Be Annulled or Impeded by Any Error of Form": The Treatment of Slaves Accused of Crimes	58	(32)
4. "The Slave Who Absconds...Steals Himself": Slave Stealers and Fugitive Slaves	90	(37)
5. "Guaranteed Against the Vices and Maladies Prescribed by Law": Warranties in Slave Sales	127	(22)
6. "Marked in a Manner Unusual Amongst Civilised People": The Foreign and Domestic Slave Trade in Louisiana	149	(31)
7. "Open and Notorious Concubinage": The Emancipation of Slave Mistresses by Will	180	(21)
8. "Letting Loose in Our Midst...Persons of Color": Further Difficulties in Freeing Slaves by Will	201	(19)
9. "An Emancipation, Once Perfected, Is Irrevocable": Suits for Freedom	220	(30)
10. "As She Was a Free Woman There, She Must Be Held So Every Where": Comity, Conflict of Laws, and Suits for Freedom	250	(39)
11. "To Cling to the Desperate Fortunes of the Confederacy": Appeals Concerning Slavery Heard After the Civil War	289	(16)
Bibliography	305	(68)
Index	373